Rise of the Byakugan Jinchūriki!
by Leonineus
Summary: What if Naruto was born into the Hyūga clan and therefore had both the Byakugan AND the Kyūbi? ABANDONED!
1. Introduction & Eleven Years Later

Rise of the Byakugan Jinchūriki!

Summary: What if Naruto was born into the Hyūga clan and therefore had both the Byakugan AND the Kyūbi?

**(A/N: Hey all, Leonineus here! This is the non-HP fic I mentioned in the TCML A/N. I just want to say, if I get a Japanese honorific wrong, which I probably will end up doing, can people please enlighten me as to what the mistake is, where it is and what it actually should be. Irritatingly, I can find nowhere on the Internet which gives me a satisfactory or even easy to understand explanation of honorifics. As such, I'm bound to get them wrong often until I learn the correct ones. Oh and sorry if the accents and whatever don't show up properly for anyone, it's just that the double u's in words like "Hyūga" and "Kyūbi" REALLY bug me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new story, and I must ask that you read the two A/Ns at the end, because one poses an important question and the other explains some of the things in this chapter. Peace out folks, I'll see you at the end of the chapter!)**

I am Naruto Hyūga, jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Kitsune and the heir to the Hyūga clan. My sisters Hinata and Hanabi and cousin Neji are my best friends in the world, even while the rest of the Village Hidden in the Leaves curses me for being the nine-tailed fox's vessel. My greatest ambition is to prove to the rest of the village that being the Kyūbi's jinchūriki does not make me a bad person and to become the Hokage. This is the story of how I achieved that dream.

Introduction

"Push!"

"YOU push!"

"Push! We're almost there! Just a little more effort and we'll be fine!"

"ANBU, how are you doing on that seal?"

"Fine. Are we going to seal the Nine-Tailed Fox inside the child after this?"

"Yes. We are going to have to. I mean, Lady Hyūga's seal is weakening because she's in childbirth. We'll have to move the Kyūbi over to the child afterwards."

"Right."

Silence reigned for a few minutes, punctuated by the occasional yelp from Hitomi Hyūga or cry of "Push!" from the midwife, until finally the air was rent by a deafening wail.

"Well, well. Listen to that; a nice, healthy set of lungs. It's… a boy! Congra- hang on there's another one coming out! You have twins, Lady Hyūga!"

"Yeah, tell me something I don't already fucking KNOW!"

Hiashi Hyūga chose that moment to enter the room. He took his son from the midwife as she turned her attention to the second child. A few seconds later, a second scream split the air as the second child emerged completely. Hitomi sighed with relief as the midwife held the child up and said, "It's a girl!"

Hiashi moved to his wife's side as the midwife handed her their daughter.

"What shall we name them?" asked Hitomi.

Hiashi smiled, "Let's name the girl Hinata."

"And the boy?" asked Hitomi.

Hiashi smiled, holding up his firstborn with a chuckle, "We will call him Naruto!"

Chapter One: Eleven Years Later

"Naruto-kun!"

Naruto turned around to see his sisters and cousin running towards him. "Hey, Hinata-chan, Hanabi-chan, Neji-san!"

Naruto looked a lot like his twin sister, except that where her seemingly pupil-less eyes were lavender, his were a deep cerulean. His dark blue hair stood up in all directions, and he had three whisker-like birthmarks on each cheek. Tied around his forehead was an orange bandana to keep the blue bangs it so magnificently clashed with out of his eyes. Despite this attempt at controlling his hair, it didn't exactly work; the bangs just flopped over the bandana, leading to an odd tiger-stripe effect across his forehead in alternating bands of orange and blue.

"So, cousin, how's your Byakugan coming along?" Neji asked Naruto with a grin, as Naruto embraced his seven-year-old sister.

Naruto chuckled at Neji as the grey-eyed cousin watched him, "Always the shinobi, aren't you Neji-san?"

Neji laughed, "You're still younger than me, cousin. Don't get uppity."

Naruto scowled at him, "By a year! It's not that much of a difference!"

Neji smirked, flicking his cousin on the forehead with one finger in a gesture eerily reminiscent of Itachi Uchiha's action to his brother Sasuke, though none of them knew that. Naruto grabbed said finger and gave it a gentle twist. Neji smirked, "Oh it is on now!" Hinata and Hanabi sighed and rolled their eyes as Naruto and Neji launched into a quick sparring match. They were quite evenly matched, despite Neji having more experience because he was older. Naruto, however, had an asset that even Neji couldn't beat: the Nine-Tailed Fox. His father Hiashi had told him about his being the jinchūriki as soon as he was old enough to understand what he was telling him.

Hinata and Hinabi sat cross-legged on the veranda as Neji and Naruto sparred. A few seconds later, both moved from fists onto kunai. Hiashi and Hitomi both appeared behind the girls accompanied by Hiashi's twin brother and Neji's father Hizashi. "…and how long have they been fighting this time?" queried Hiashi wearily.

"About five minutes so far," murmured Hinata, not taking her eyes off her brother and cousin, "I don't know how much longer it'll go on before one of them beats the other."

Hizashi chuckled, "Ahhh… how cute, they're scrapping like the children they are. Admittedly, they should be a little better behaved, being members of the Hyūga clan, but…" He trailed off as Neji finally dealt Naruto a painful snap-kick to the chin and sent him crashing into a tree trunk.

"Owwwww…" moaned Naruto as he struggled out of the crater in the tree. He turned when he heard laughter.

"Nice try, Naruto…" said Hizashi with a broad grin, "…but you'll have to get better before you can beat my son!"

Naruto grinned somewhat frighteningly, "Oh really? Well I'll just have to get better!"

Neji smiled at his cousin, "I'd like to be there the day you become more powerful than me. But isn't today the day that we graduate from the Academy and get assigned to our squads? Hopefully we'll get assigned together! We'd be amazing, the Hyūga Trio, we'd be unstoppable as shinobi!"

"A little ambitious, aren't you Neji-san?" quipped Naruto, darting forwards and flicking his cousin on the forehead.

"Ok, that is it!" shouted Neji, jumping on his cousin and wrestling him to the ground.

"Naruto-kun, Neji-kun, we haven't got time to fight! We have to get to the Academy for our graduation!" Hinata cried.

Naruto shoved Neji off him and leapt to his feet. Neji staggered upright, laughing. They quickly sprinted out of the Hyūga compound and across town to the Academy, where they slipped into their classroom at speed and lined up. "Nice to know you have finally turned up, Naruto, Hinata, Neji."

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei!" said Naruto, rubbing a hand sheepishly over the back of his head as they ran, "My fault, I got carried away in sparring practice back at home and lost track of time. Slowed everybody down, it won't happen again."

Iruka smiled; he'd always liked Naruto, "It's ok Naruto, just please try and be on time in future."

"Will do, Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka smiled slightly before he unfurled a scroll and said, "Ok, first up, Shino Aburame. You need to successfully turn into me with a Transformation Jutsu to graduate."

Shino nodded, easily performing the task before stepping backwards.

"Next, Chōji Akimichi!"

Chōji also easily completed it. And on it went.

Sakura Haruno, a pink-haired girl with a slightly nasal voice, performed the Jutsu with an ease that made Naruto frown; she seemed to be trying to show off.

Hinata was next; she smiled reassuringly at her twin as she stepped forwards, performed the jutsu and stepped back into line. Naruto stepped forwards, concentrated, and then experienced a moment of panic. As a result, he overcompensated and somehow managed to not only turn into Iruka-sensei, but fill the entire room with identical copies of him. Iruka stared around for a moment, before experimentally punching one of the clones. The clone winced slightly before he vanished in a puff of smoke.

Iruka turned on Naruto after Naruto embarrassedly dispelled the clones, "Naruto, how the _hell_ did you learn perfect Shadow Clone Technique?"

Naruto stared at him, while everybody stared at Naruto, "I… I don't know… I accidentally panicked and overcompensated, and I guess that caused the jutsu to occur."

Iruka stared at him for a moment, before shaking his head in exasperation, "You know what, I used to think it was impossible to learn a jutsu completely by accident, but I've since learnt that where you're concerned, anything can happen." Most of the class, particularly the other two Hyūga in the room, laughed at that. Naruto nodded graciously, gave an exaggerated court bow and stepped back into line. Neji was next. In an attempt to outdo Naruto, he tried to combine a Transformation Jutsu with a genjutsu to turn everybody else into copies of Iruka-sensei as well. This doesn't exactly work out right; there was a massive blast of chakra and then Neji was lying on the floor in a singed and smoking heap, his eyes crossed and his tongue hanging out.

Naruto bent over his cousin with a mischievous grin as Neji tried to make his eyes focus, "You know, Neji? That wasn't exactly the smartest plan. I think my chakra reserves are better than yours."

Neji rolled over onto his back and scowled at his cousin with his eyes still crossed. "Shove it, Naruto. You may have better chakra but I have better control!"

Naruto smirked, "You may have better control, but I am infinitely cooler."

Neji grumbled as Hinata helped him up, "We'll see about that, _cousin_!"

Iruka smirked, "Ok kiddies, break it up. Next up, Kiba Inuzuka!"

As Naruto, Neji and Hinata walked out of the Academy later on that day wearing their new headbands proudly, they were greeted by their parents. Naruto hugged his mother as the three new genin reached their parents, "We graduated, okaa-san! Can we go get some ramen?"

Hiashi laughed, ruffling his son's already-messy hair, "You and your ramen craze."

Naruto scowled, flipping his fringe over his headband to keep it out of his eyes, "Not my fault Ichiraku Ramen is so delicious!"

Hitomi smiled fondly at her son, "Well as you guys have graduated, you deserve a reward. Let's all go to Ichiraku's, I assume my husband will pay?" This last was addressed to Hiashi, who gave her a beleaguered look that made everybody laugh. Naruto gave Neji a gentle punch on the shoulder, smirking, "You do know I'm not going to let you forget that you managed to blow yourself up, right?"

Hizashi frowned, stepping forwards as he stared at his son and nephew, "What's this?"

Naruto grinned, laughing at Neji's expression as he turned to his uncle, "I accidentally managed to use a perfect Shadow Clone Jutsu when I did my Transformation Jutsu, so Neji decided to try going one better. He tried to combine his Transformation Jutsu with a genjutsu to make everybody look like Iruka-sensei as well. Unfortunately he just lost control of his chakra and exploded." He gave Neji a little punch on the shoulder.

Neji scowled, "Snitch!"

Hizashi sighed, "Neji, how many times have I told you? Naruto-san is a natural prodigy because of his enormous chakra reserves, trying to surpass him will just get you hurt. You know that but you still keep trying to pass him."

Neji had the good grace to look ashamed, "Ok, otou-san, I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

Hizashi nodded, before rounding on his nephew, "And you, Naruto, don't encourage him to try, alright?"

Naruto snapped to attention and saluted, though his eyes were still sparkling with mischief, "Ok, oji-san, will do!"

Meanwhile, outside town, a dark figure was walking towards the gates. At his side walked a small panther cub, and he wore a heavy pack on his back. There was a sheathed kodachi slung across his back with the hilt protruding over his shoulder, a tantō knife in a horizontal sheath mounted on the back of his belt, and a long chain looped around his arm. Strapped to his wrist was a small harness holding a kusarigama attached to the end of the chain. Tears were coursing down his face. The two chūnin at the gate, Kotetsu Hagane and Izuno Kamizuki, intercepted him as he took a step over the threshold, "Hold it. State your purpose in coming into the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

The small figure looked up, and a pair of sea-green eyes shone from beneath the hood, "My name is Shizukashi, I come from Kagegakure, the Village Hidden in the Shadows, seeking shelter. My home is destroyed, and I have nowhere to go. If I can, I would like to see the Hokage."

Kotetsu glanced at Izuno, before crouching and saying, "I'm afraid I can't grant you an audience with the Hokage just like that, we need a specific reason to do that."

Shizukashi did not respond; he simply gripped the hem of his shirt and raised it, revealing a strange mark on his chest. The two chūnin stared at him, then at each other, for a full minute before nodding and beckoning to him to follow them.

As Shizukashi followed the two chūnin into the village, he noticed a family of eight walking along the road in his direction. Six had the same eyes, almost blank except for a little colour. Two of the four children, both boys, were laughing and joking. The other two, a girl who looked to be the twin of one of the boys and another girl who looked to be her little sister, watched them fondly as they chatted. The two boys and the older girl all wore identical hitai-ate with a spiral leaf on them. Shizukashi fiddled with his own headband slightly, straightening it and moving a couple of his bangs out of the way so that the emblem of the Kagegakure, a crescent moon encompassing a hexagram, showed prominently. He gently touched Izuno's sleeve. When the man looked down he nodded towards the family, "Who are they?"

The chūnin glanced across at them for a moment before saying, "They are the Hyūga clan, one of the most prominent clans of the Leaf Village. The Uchiha clan used to be close to them in fame, but then disaster struck and now there are only two left."

Shizukashi nodded, regarding the family curiously. The taller boy seemed different to him, _familiar_; and in his gut, he felt the beast within stir.

Naruto Hyūga was just laughing at a joke Neji had just told when he spotted two chūnin escorting a small figure along the street ahead. Though Naruto could not specify the reason why, the fox within seemed to wake, sniffing the air. In the deepest recesses of Naruto's mind, he heard it say two words in its deep, rumbling voice, "Oni Kurohyoo…"

**(First A/N: Do you think I should put the three Hyūga children on one team or on different teams as per canon? Either way I've worked out who I want to pair with who, it'll just mean I have to come up with different ideas for how I want to set things out. There will be a poll on my page to vote between same team and different teams.)**

**(Second A/N: Hey guys, I'm moving into a different genre than Harry Potter for once! Now, I know that as the lady of a house like Hyūga, Hinata's mother would not swear at people, but as my mother is a midwife I know that women giving birth can make angry longshoremen with Tourette's Syndrome appear prim and proper by comparison. Also, as we never find out Hinata's mother's name, I dubbed her "Hitomi". It's somewhat appropriate considering Hitomi means "beautiful eyes" in Japanese. Also, certain differences will arise. Neji will not be the ice-blooded jerk he is in canon, and Hinata will not have her crush on Naruto (obviously). Naruto himself will be more grown-up and mature, and definitely a bit more handsome. I'm afraid I have to lose his lovable blond hair, but the overall style is still there. It's just deep blue instead of blond now. I appreciate that the image may be a little difficult to imagine, but trying to explain how a son born to two dark-haired parents has very bright hair would be a complete nightmare. Anyway, sorry this is such a long A/N, but I had a lot to say, and unfortunately there is even more to say, but I'll leave that until the start of the next chapter. Adios!)**


	2. Teamed Up

Rise of the Byakugan Jinchūriki!

Summary: What if Naruto was born into the Hyūga clan and therefore had both the Byakugan AND the Kyūbi?

Chapter Two: Teamed Up

**(A/N: Ok, I made my decision. Of the three people who voted on the poll, two voted for different teams and one for the same team. Therefore, the teams will be as they were in canon; Neji in Team Gai, Naruto in Team Kakashi and Hinata in Team Kurenai. By the way, what did all of you (few) people who've read this think of my OC? I made up a complete back story for him, though I had to twist canon a little bit. You'll probably identify how in this chapter. Enjoy!)**

Naruto, Hinata and Neji stood talking in their classroom, each waiting for their jōnin-sensei to come and collect them. They had been disappointed to discover that they would not be on the same teams as they had been hoping. Naruto was on Team 7 with Sakura Haruno and the Rookie of the Year, Sasuke Uchiha. Hinata was on Team 8 with Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame, and Neji was on Team 4 with Tenten Takeshi and Rock Lee. Team 4's third member had dropped out for unknown reasons the year before, putting both Tenten and Rock Lee back in the Academy for another year. Neji, as the eldest of the current Academy class, had been assigned to the team as a result.

Neji's ears had gone pink when he had met Tenten; something that had caused his cousins to tease him mercilessly. Neji had retaliated by shoving Naruto gently. Tenten had simply blushed and looked away when Naruto had mentioned Neji's "crush" on her, before the blue-haired genin had gently taken her hand and kissed the back of it before offering it to Neji to do the same. Neji had simply clipped his cousin on the ear and apologized to Tenten for, in his words, "the fact that my cousin is a bit of an idiot." Tenten had simply nodded graciously and smiled at Neji, whose ears went from pink to red.

Time passed. Each team's sensei came and took them away. Hinata left with a red-eyed woman with long black hair, and Neji left with some weirdo in green spandex and a black bowl cut, who bore an uncanny resemblance to one of Neji's team-mates, Rock Lee. Soon, it was just Naruto and his two team-mates who were left, awaiting their sensei. Sasuke had dozed off in his chair, Sakura meanwhile had leant her head on her hand, her face turned towards Sasuke and her eyes closed. Naruto lounged against the wall next to the door, head tipped back and staring at the ceiling, thinking.

He started as the door slid back, revealing a masked face. The head in the gap instinctively flinched. Naruto raised an eyebrow, "What was that about?"

The person shook his head, "Never mind, I was expecting to be pranked somehow; I've heard a lot about you, Naruto Hyūga."

Naruto snorted, "Maybe when I was younger. Not now though, got to set an example to the younger generations." Then his lip twitched and he dissolved into sniggers, "Ok, do you have any idea how hard that was to say with a straight face?"

The man smiled under his mask as the other two members of the team stood up and walked around their desks to Naruto. "Well anyway," said the man, "Meet me up on the roof in five minutes!" He vanished in a puff of smoke.

Five minutes later, Naruto was sitting on the roof with his team-mates, opposite their assigned jōnin-sensei and a dark figure that none of them recognized except for Naruto, who remembered seeing him the previous day being escorted by two chūnin. The figure was holding a small panther cub and stroking its head gently. Naruto was first to ask the question that was obviously bothering all of them, "Sensei, who is he?"

Their sensei turned to the figure, which lowered its hood. Sea-green eyes glittered out from a face which resembled a panther's more than a human's, though his smile was friendly despite displaying rows of sharper-than-average teeth. "My name is Shizukashi, and this is my ninken Kageneko. I am from the Kagegakure, the Village Hidden in the Shadow. My village was destroyed, so I was permitted to live here and join an existing genin team. I chose this one."

The masked jōnin nodded at Shizukashi to sit down, and he did. "Now," he said to the three Leaf genin, "My name is Kakashi Hatake, and I will be your sensei. What are your dreams, what are your likes and dislikes, what are your hobbies and what are your ambitions?"

Naruto spoke first, "I'm Naruto Hyūga, I like eating ramen at Ichiraku's Ramen Shop, and I dislike people who judge others based on something trifling, like how people judge me because… because…" he tailed off. Everybody was looking at him. Naruto frowned at the floor for a second, then shook his head and resumed talking, "Anyway, my hobbies are hanging out with my sisters and cousin, and my ambition and dreams are the same: to become the Hokage so that the entire village will respect me!"

Shizukashi considered the boy for a moment before musing, _"I wonder if he knows about his tenant. He seems to… I wonder if I should tell him I'm in a similar position…" _He was shaken out of his thoughts by the pink haired girl beginning to speak.

"I'm Sakura Haruno," she began, "What I like is…" she glanced at Sasuke and blushed.

Shizukashi sighed and rolled his eyes slightly, _"Great, a fan-girl. This is going to be one interesting team. What is so enthralling about this Sasuke anyway?"_

"Anyway, my hobby is…" she glanced at Sasuke and blushed again; Naruto rolled his eyes this time, "And my dream for the future is…" This time she covered her mouth with her hands and giggled.

"And what do you hate?" asked Kakashi.

Sakura scowled, "Anybody who tries to get between me and my…" she trailed off, giggling.

"And you…?" said Kakashi, turning to Sasuke with a sigh.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't really like anything." Sakura looked crushed at this. Shizukashi sighed; that girl would have to get over her crush if she was going to become an effective shinobi. "What I have," continued Sasuke, "is not a dream, because I _will_ make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and destroy a certain someone."

Naruto snorted. Shizukashi glanced at the Uchiha, thinking that maybe they had a bit in common. Except that where Shizukashi was concerned, the person who had destroyed his village was someone he couldn't exactly seek vengeance on. If anything, Shizukashi had more in common with the Hyūga than the Uchiha, mainly because they both had similar hairy problems.

"Ok then," said Kakashi, "I'll see you all tomorrow morning for a survival exercise. Five a.m. at the designated training area. Oh and one last thing: you may not want to eat any breakfast. You'll just end up throwing up."

Shizukashi caught Naruto's eye for a second and raised an eyebrow, before Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto decided to make conversation, "So what are you three going to do?"

Sasuke shrugged, "Go home."

Sakura glanced at Sasuke and blushed slightly before turning and saying, "I think I'll go home too."

Naruto nodded before turning to Shizukashi, who shrugged, "I need to find a place to live while I'm here."

Naruto smiled, "Well, why don't we ask my father if you can stay in the Hyūga compound?" Naruto didn't know why, but he had a feeling around his navel that he could trust this person.

Shizukashi's ears, or at least the parts of bare skin Naruto could just see inside them, went pink, "Are you sure they won't mind?"

Naruto smiled, "No, they probably won't. If we tell them you don't have a place to stay then they'll probably give you a free room. My parents are nice like that."

Shizukashi smiled, and in the back of his mind he heard a soft feminine voice purr, _"For the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Kitsune he's actually quite well-mannered. I would have expected him to be a little more brash and crass myself…"_

Shizukashi shook his head slightly, _"Quiet, you. You know I still haven't forgiven you for that."_

The voice came back, wheedling and annoyed, _"For goodness' sake, boy! The massacre was months ago now, let it rest!"_

"_No!" _Shizukashi shouted into the recesses of his mind, _"No! It's going to be a little harder than you think, just letting it go and forgetting that you took over my body and massacred my entire village while I was asleep!"_

"_Aw, come on! You pretty much gave me the opening! Falling asleep like that just begged me to take over!"_

"_That doesn't matter! Was it necessary to kill everyone in the village then leave me to wake up the next morning to find that everybody I cared about in the world was DEAD?"_

"Shizukashi-san? Shizukashi-san?" said Naruto to the black-furred boy, who seemed lost in thought.

Shizukashi shook himself slightly and looked up at Naruto. Naruto couldn't put his finger on it, but he somehow knew why Shizukashi was acting oddly.

The Kyūbi no Kitsune sealed in Naruto's gut however, knew _exactly _why Shizukashi was acting so oddly, he could smell the Seven-Tailed Panther sealed in the boy's gut. The seal holding the Seven-Tails was different, however; Shizukashi seemed to be able to call on a number of tails at once from the Panther to boost his power reserves. _"I wish my vessel was able to do that…" _mused the Kyūbi as he curled up and lay down again, _"It gets so boring in here."_

Shizukashi scowled slightly as he followed Naruto down off the roof of the Academy, Kageneko gambolling along at his heels. He would have to find some way to punish the Panther for what it had done, but not right now. Right now, he had better things to be doing.

That night, Shizukashi lay on his back on the patio outside the small house he had been given on the Hyūga compound with his arms behind his head, staring up at the sky. It was a custom back in his home village to sleep under the stars except in bad weather. Shizukashi had told Naruto he liked to sleep outside when he had first moved in, so Naruto had told the guards to watch the ground when walking past the hut in case they trod on him. Shizukashi had had a brief conversation with two of the guards on their rounds, and they had got along fairly well. Naruto had mentioned his sisters and cousin to Shizukashi on the walk back to the Hyūga compound and offered to introduce them to each other, which Shizukashi had happily accepted.

Shizukashi rolled onto his back, listening to Kageneko's soft snuffling by his side. The panther cub was fast asleep and by the sound of it, dreaming of chasing mice. Shizukashi took a long time to get to sleep; too busy thinking about what he was going to do in the future, before he finally slipped into a sleep plagued by dreams of watching his village destroyed, unable to move to protect it.

Shizukashi woke up at four thirty the next morning when Naruto nudged him with his foot. Shizukashi, a little twitchy after his nightmares, grabbed his kusarigama and wrapped Naruto in the chain before he realized who it was.

"Um, do you usually do that when somebody wakes you, Shizukashi-san?" queried Naruto as Shizukashi untied him amid multiple apologies.

"No, Naruto-san," said Shizukashi, as he finished winding the chain around his arm and slipped the kusarigama into its holster at his wrist, before picking up his sheathed kodachi and slinging it over his shoulder onto his back, "Usually I completely freak out and try to impale them with my kodachi." He sniggered at Naruto's expression, "I'm joking. No, usually I just grab their arm. I've just been having nightmares so I'm a little jerky in the morning."

Naruto nodded, picking up his tool pouch and attaching it to his belt. Shizukashi slipped his tantō into its sheath and stood up, while Kageneko scratched behind his ear and stood beside Shizukashi's foot.

Naruto eyed the shadow-nin for a second, "Why do you carry so many weapons?"

Shizukashi fixed him with a piercing stare, "Back in my village, you grow up learning how to use a lot more than just kunai and shuriken. Also I was on the road for quite a while; you need decent weaponry to defend yourself on the mountain roads leading down from the Kagegakure. Particularly in times such as these…"

Naruto glanced once at Shizukashi before nodding and walking off towards the gates of the Hyūga compound.

The pair walked in silence to the training grounds, where they met Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura was, as usual, giggling and blushing while occasionally glancing at Sasuke, who was ignoring her.

Kakashi appeared a few minutes later in a puff of smoke, reading his little orange book. Shizukashi scowled at him, "Do you seriously have to read that? It's disgusting smut."

Kakashi gave a small giggle, prompting the young Kage-nin to sigh and roll his eyes. After a few seconds passed, he snapped, "Kakashi! What are we doing here so early in the morning?"

Kakashi raised his single eye from the book, "Whoa, touchy. What's gotten into you today?"

"Broken night. Nightmares about watching my village being destroyed before my eyes and being helpless to stop it tend to put me in a foul mood."

The three genin of Team 7 stared at him in some shock as Kakashi considered him. Finally, Kakashi put away his book and turned to the three genin, "Ok you three, today we will be doing a training exercise to see if you are good enough for me to train you."

"I thought we'd already been passed as genin, though!" protested Sakura.

"No," said Kakashi, "That was just so that we could see who was genin material. This is the actual test to see whether each of you is worthy of your hitai-ate. Of the twenty-seven genin candidates who got out of the Academy, eighteen will be going back. That makes for a sixty-six percent chance of failure."

Naruto snorted, "No problem."

Kakashi smirked, at least they thought he was smirking behind his mask, "Oh I think you might find it a little more challenging than you think. Your task," he held up two small bells, "is to get these off me. For the sake of fairness, Shizukashi will participate in the exercise."

Shizukashi smirked, drawing his kodachi. He flipped it round in his hand a few times before finally adopting a backhand grip on it, so that the blade extended towards his elbow. He flicked his left arm and caught the kusarigama as it shot out of his sleeve. Settling into a crouching position with Kageneko at his side, he smirked at Kakashi. The other three genin swiftly drew out kunai and held them at the ready.

"Ready?" said Kakashi. At their nods, he said, "Start…" and vanished in a puff of smoke.

**(A/N: Hey all, Leonineus here! I've got a bit of news for you: I'm going to post a new Naruto fic on here called Both Sides of the Kunai. It will be NarutoxHarem, but his main girl will be Yugito. I hope you guys enjoyed this new chapter and I hope you enjoy the new story when I post it. See you later, LEONINEUS OUT!)**


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